BSkyB grows profit 25%

BSkyB used its third quarter results to note it was engaging positively with the Ofcom ‘fit and proper’ review and to say it was making a positive contribution to UK audiences and employment and the economy. It reported operating profit for the nine months to the end of March up 25 per cent YonY to £939 million (€1.152bn). Revenue for the nine months was £5.078 billion compared to £4.83 billion a year ago.

Its average revenue per user (ARPU) was £546 in the first three months of the year, which was up £9 from the same period last year. The company said: “The impact of this year’s price freeze…was more than offset by our success in selling our home communications products to new and existing customers.”

“The decision to focus our marketing on home communications has paid off with our fastest quarter of growth since launch and confirmation that Sky is now Britain’s favourite triple play provider,” said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.

The churn rate, which is the proportion of customers who left Sky during the period, was an annualised 10.1 per cent – down from 10.4 per cent at the same time last year.

Sky said it had concluded a review of the editorial practices at Sky News and had “found no evidence of impropriety or cause for concern”. In the two cases referred to by John Ryley, head of Sky News, at the Leveson Inquiry, in which a Sky News journalist accessed the emails of people suspected of criminal activity. It said it had concluded that “the action was justified in the public interest and subject to proper editorial oversight”.